Des fleurs pour décorer ... 2
Multimedia installation

The art installation from the Toronto artist Sylvie Bélanger has been on display at Brich Libralato since June 18. On July 23, 2009, Des fleurs pour décorer…(2) will be auctioned. The artist Andrew James Patterson will host the auction. Referencing the marketing strategies used to “sell” condominiums and art commoditization, Sylvie Bélanger partitions the exhibition space into 3 sections and 1 moment.

Des fleurs pour décorer: The arrival of post-industrialization and new technologies, the oil crisis, inflation and immigration in part have caused changes in our way of living and transformed the urban landscape.  With the return of the population to the city, urban and abandoned industrial spaces that were mainly inhabited by artists and low-income families have become the site of gentrification forming new communities made up principally of young urban professionals. Inspired by the concept of the artist loft and the increasing request for livable spaces, the urban architects transformed these industrial spaces into the loft or condominium as a new concept of urban living.

These new agglomerations form a mixed population, which has generated an increase in the leisure and service industries such as: restaurants, theaters, cinemas, interior decoration, clothing, etc. One also attends to a growth of a desire to embellish ones environment and also a need to redefine ones own images in a continuous manner. “Des fleurs pour décorer…” was inspired by this recent phenomenon, which is also nourished by a multitude of TV programs concerned mainly with fashion, the art of cooking, interior decoration, etc. Feeding the phenomenon of hyper-aesthetisation and a new group of consumers interested in the acquisition of designed domestic objects and works of art; I transform the gallery into a model unit furnished with several plasma screens where the visitor will complete the decoration of the room by selecting a combination of art videos, instead of choosing the colors for the walls. The viewers will be engaging this aesthetisation process by interacting with a menu to activate the screens, which will transmit several combinations of artwork based on their choices.

1.The entrance:
A poster, a text and “business” cards, a video art installation referencing a chart of colours for home décor from the artist June Pak, and a photo of a skeleton house by the artist Michael Bietz. This setting introduces the viewer to a highly-compressed space that raises questions concerning desires and its commodification in contemporary society.

2. The “Model Suite”
The model unit is furnished with a surrealist influenced design living and dining furniture. Art videos quoting art history and recalling elements of decor such as images of landscape, portrait, still life, etc.. There is also books and domestic objects. The visitor can sit, relax and wonder in this room, gazing at the art collection inhabiting the living space, which is built from chosen artworks that present various perspectives about space, home and the domestic. This art collection includes works by artists: Cathy Daley, Michelle Gay, Paul De Guzman, Jacob Kassay, Ginette Legaré, James Nizam and Benjamin Van Dyke.

3. The Signatures Showroom.
In the third space you can browse samples of artworks made by the artists in the collection. Get acquainted with their career history in the brochure and sit on the bench to consult the price list and discuss with the art dealer the decor of your home or office, the value, role, conservation and appreciation of art in our contemporary society.

4. The Auction
Hosted by Andrew James Paterson
It is a social gathering with purpose. The chaotic sound of multiple conversations simultaneously revealing the others, a glass of wine in your hand, wandering around the objects, alone in your thoughts facing the object, evaluating, waiting, bidding…
The strategists are you.
The actors are you.
Sitting, gazing, waiting, suspended to the rhythm of the voice, silence … GAVEL!